Corporate Social Responsibility and Water Resource Management- A Case Study of Indian Railways (IR) and its’ Select Public Sector Undertakings

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has taken a form or avtar, after notification of The Companies Act, 2013. India is the first country in the world, which has legislated to make voluntary CSR to mandatory. This Act came into effect from 1st April, 2014. As per provisions of Section 135 of this Act, every company with a net worth of rupees five hundred crore (500Cr.) or turnover of rupees one thousand crore (1000Cr.) or net profit of rupees five crore (5Cr.) must “ensure that the company spends, in every financial year, at least two per cent (2%) of the average net profits of the company made during the three immediately preceding financial years, in pursuance of its Corporate Social Responsibility Policy.” The Companies Act includes a detailed schedule of CSR activities (Schedule VII) including conservation of natural resources and maintaining quality of soil, air and water. This paper examines the type of works/projects and expenditure incurred on its completion by Indian Railways (IR) and its select Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) for Water Resource Development since implementation of Mandatory Corporate Social Responsibility (MCSR) in India.